4/9/1865, a glorious day in the history of this country. Grant hands Lee his ass at Appomattox.

[Hotler]

Please remind your repug family and friends.
Last battle of the civil war.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/appomattox-court-house-april-9-1865

[underpants]

1. Used to pass right through there on the way to Roanoke.

Never stopped. We are still surrounded by it here in the Ooooold Dominion.

[dalton99a]

2. And then protected him from prosecution

https://www.civilwarprofiles.com/grant-protects-lee-from-treason-trial/

[brush]

4. That's unfortunate. If those traitors had been hung...

we wouldn't still be having all the glorification of confederacy and the lost cause bullshit.

They were traitors against the nation. And they got reparations for their losses.

Black people who were enslaved for centuries and had their wages stolen all those years, haven't gotten a penny.

[brush]

3. Grant was the better general. His victories in the western...

theater caught Lincoln's notice, and the rest is history.

[modrepub]

7. Maybe

As you said, Grant had a good rapport with Lincoln, which was something most of the generals in the east never established. Grant was brought into Washington and promoted to Lt. General (the position Washington held in the Continental Army by the end of the Revolutionary War). This was done because Lincoln wanted him in charge of all the Union forces and other Maj Generals in the Union army outranked him. Technically, Grant was commander of all the armies, not the commander of the principal army fighting Lee, the Army of the Potomac.

Maj. Gen George Meade was the Commander of the Army of the Potomac from the beginning of Gettysburg until the end of the war. There were no senior officers from the Army of the Potomac at Appomattox when Lee surrendered. That would have been a slight to most generals but Meade was not that type. In fact Meade offered his resignation to Grant when he was promoted by Lincoln to allow the new general to put someone else in place if he wanted to (he didn't).

Grant didn't want to be a desk general so he went to the field and basically directed operations from that point onward. Meade was basically relegated to following Grant's orders. To say Grant did especially great against Lee is probably an over statement. Grant basically bled the Army of Northern Virginia dry. Grant was confronted at times about how he was basically throwing away Union soldiers. In the end that was the proper course of action; all wars are wars of attrition.

By early 1865, Sherman's army was moving north through the Carolina's towards Washington. It was generally thought that his army was superior to the armies in the eastern theater. At the time, it was an open question if Lee and the Confederates would give up before Sherman arrived in Virgina. Of course that didn't happen. On a casualty count, I'd say Grant did no better against Lee than some of the other Union generals, maybe worse. But, Lincoln had confidence in Grant. He was given credit for defeating Lee, more so than the Army of the Potomac even though he was never its commander.

[brush]

11. Meade and the others were a bit timid for Lincoln's taste...

and he was glad to get Grant whose victories at Vicksburg and in the west are still studied today.

Lincoln wanted a fighting general and that's what he got in Grant. The partnership between him and Sherman ground Lee down, who was also accused of taking too many casualties. With Grant/Sherman's superior strategy and logistics, it was just a matter of time before Lee surrendered to Grant.

[modrepub]

12. Meade Was A Good General

Just ask Lee.

Did you ever wonder why the war dragged on much longer than other parts of the country? The Far West campaign was the first to go to the Union, KY went to the Union side early in the war. MO and AR were effectively in Union hands years before Richmond. As a rule of thumb, Union campaigns that were furthest from Washington were the most successful.

Commanders in the east were subject to direct influence from the Lincoln administration. Grant famously read dispatches from Washington advising him how to conduct his campaign and wisely stuffed them in his pocket. He and other army commanders in the west weren't subject to the same level of interference as those closest to the Capital. Lincoln withheld troops McClellan had chosen to participate in his Peninsula Campaign after he was told that Washington's defenses were thin. He also ordered Corps to be transferred to Pope when McClellan was engaged with the Army of Northern Virginia.

Lincoln directed the commanders of the Army of the Potomac to be a shield for the Capital and strike towards Richmond. This may seem logical but was an impediment that no other Union army suffered. Lincoln was "searching" for an effective commander in the east but kept picking political candidates and interfering with them. A lot of his picks (Pope, Burnside, Hooker) were totally unqualified and had disastrous results. By 1863, most smart generals refused the command. Hooker asked for the garrison at Harpers Ferry to be given to him as Lee was moving into Pennsylvania. Lincoln refused, Hooker resigned thinking that would change Lincoln's mind. His resignation was accepted. Meade, who was not the senior Corps commander in the AoP, tried to refuse but was rebuffed (two days before the Battle of Gettysburg!). Lincoln had earlier offered the command to Reynolds, who's terms were that he'd be given full control.

[Sneederbunk]

5. Not the last battle. That would be Palmito Ranch Texas May 12, 1865.

There were five battles after Appomattox.

[eShirl]

6. should be a national holiday

[Ron Green]

8. Unfortunately, because of the failure of Reconstruction and the power of Southern Senators,

the South actually won that war in the long run.

[Boomerproud]

10. Yes,and we're paying a terrible price.

[Boomerproud]

9. Dedicated to Pvt.Robert Roscoe of the Indiana Infantry.

Lost his left arm at the Battle of Franklin. My great-great grandfather.